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Saturday, October 5, 2013

TALK: Why choose Asian BB Creams over the Western ones?

Okay, now that's something I wanted to write about for some time but I was wondering if it would be interesting topic to discuss.

What's the big difference between Asian and Western BB?

The first BB cream was created in Germany in 1960 by Dr. Christine Schrammek. It was created in order to protect the skin of patients who recently had a surgery. The first BB cream was very different than the BB creams we know now. It was white in color. In the mid 80's Asian companies discover this magical cream and they start selling it. Ever since then the BB creams became a huge hit in Korea, Japan, China and other Asian countries. Many East-Asian celebrities preferred to wear BB creams thus making it even more popular among the population.

While BB creams were wildly known in East Asia they were very unpopular in Europe and America until 2011. But when the Western companies realized what a huge business the BB creams are they immediately started producing their own.

But the question is are the Western BB creams and the Asian BB creams the same product? Answer is most likely no.

The Asian BB creams have numerous properties their Western brothers don't. First of all, most of them have average SPF protection, they offer whitening, often even acne scar healing.

Chinese pop star Jolin Tsai advertising Skin79 Lovely Girl BB Cream

The Asian women are much more concerned about sun protection than the European and American women. It is actually very common to see women with umbrellas to protect from the sun. Also in East Asian contries milky skin is considered to be the prettiest - so the paler - the prettier, that's why most BB creams offer whitening. Generally the Asian women take much better care of their skin. Averagely, the Korean woman uses 17 skincare products per day. Often the Asian BB creams are sold in several fair shades. Some brands like Missha and Etude House offer medium shades as well.

While in Europe whitening is not something anticipated by women. Also the fair shades available on Asian market are highly insufficient. So brands who offer BB creams had to make darker shades as well. Unfortunately Western brands took the name of the Asian BB creams and under the false advertisement "BB creams - secret of Asian beauty for ages comes to Europe" they started selling regular foundations and tinted creams. One of the most popular Western BB creams are those by Garnier, Maybelline, Vichy.

I tested many of those BB creams and all of them had nothing to do with my Asian ones. Most of them didn't even had shade light enough for me. Their texture was leaky, some of them felt extremely greasy and others were so heavy that I couldn't imagine putting that on my face. So no wonder many women ended up disappointed. They thought that's just another way companies can make them by unneeded product.

Once when I was in the pharmacy I was discussing with my mom how in Europe drugstore brands never have a shade that is fair enough for me. Then I got to try Vichy Idéalia BB cream. I wasn't impressed at all. First it was again too dark for me and second it seems that by "brightening" Vichy actually meant "greasy". And the price was pretty high on top of that!

I absolutely recommend to try several Asian BB creams because they do so much more then just cover blemishes and even out skin tone. Many of them effectively help fight with pimples, scars, discoloration and redness when used in long term. Most of all I can feel how when I apply my BB cream in the morning it protects my skin from the dirty environment outside.

BB creams are different than foundations and tinted moisturizers. Many of them offer so natural coverage it's practically impossible for people to say you have anything on your face. My classmates couldn't believe when I told them I wearing BB cream daily and now I can't go out without it. If had to choose to wear only one product, it would be BB cream.